‘The Queen of Soul’ Aretha Franklin Passes Away at Age 76

The Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, has died Thursday (Aug. 16) at age 76 from pancreatic cancer in her Detroit home. Her publicist Gwendolyn Quinn released a family statement to the Associated Press that she died Thursday at 9:50 a.m.

“Franklin’s official cause of death was due to advance pancreatic cancer of the neuroendocrine type, which was confirmed by Franklin’s oncologist, Dr. Philip Phillips of Karmanos Cancer Institute,” the statement read.

“In one of the darkest moments of our lives, we are not able to find the appropriate words to express the pain in our heart. We have lost the matriarch and rock of our family,” the family shared.

Earlier this week, news broke stating the legendary singer was “gravely ill,” dropped a tremendous amount of weight. A day later she was stated to be at home with family who was “asking for prayers and privacy.”

The late singer burst onto the scene in the 1960s powered by classic soul songs like “Respect,” “Chain of Fools” and more. In her career, Aretha Franklin won 18 Grammy awards and was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.